Revision as of 00:43, 19 April 2013

The Dark type (Japanese: あくタイプEvil type) is one of the seventeen types. Notable Trainers that specialize in Dark-type Pokémon are Karen of the JohtoElite Four, Sidney of the Hoenn Elite Four, and Grimsley of the Unova Elite Four. Notably, the Dark type is the only type that has never had a Pokémon Gym specialize in it. Prior to Generation IV, where moves are designated physical or special based on the move itself rather than its type, all Dark-type moves were special. Dark-type Pokémon were added in Generation II.

Statistical averages

Overall

Fully evolved

Stat

HP:

76.61

Attack:

101.91

Defense:

78.35

Sp.Atk:

83.52

Sp.Def:

75.26

Speed:

80.22

Total:

495.87

Battle properties

Offensive

Defensive

Power

Types

Power

Types

2×

½×

½×

2×

0×

None

0×

Characteristics

Defense

Dark-type Pokémon are notable for the fact that they don't have any strong stat trends other than Attack (which is in and of itself modified by a few powerful outliers and slightly ironic as Dark was a special type, not a physical type), but usually have relatively poor defenses, with the exception of Umbreon, Spiritomb, Bisharp, Drapion, Scrafty, Mandibuzz and Tyranitar. On the plus side, Dark types have an immunity to Psychic-type moves. Additionally, Pokémon that are both Dark-type and Ghost-type have no weaknesses to any moves of any type (excluding Fighting-type moves used under immunity-negating conditions such as Ring Target or Scrappy), as the resistances of the Dark type cover the weaknesses of Ghost, and vice-versa. Meanwhile, if a Pokémon with the types Psychic and Dark were to exist, then it would have no resistances while having a double weakness to Bug type and an immunity to Psychic (It would also be the only Pokémon with Bug as a sole weakness).

Offense

Dark-type moves, when combating Psychic types, are especially useful due to their secondary effects; Crunch lowers Defense (an already low stat among Psychic types), Bite causes flinching, Faint Attack never misses, Night Slash has a high critical hit ratio while Pursuit hits Pokémon as they switch for double damage. Many Dark-type moves also involve stealing or deception, such as moves like: Thief, which steals an opponent's held item; Snatch, which steals the beneficial effects of an opponent's moves; and Foul Play, which uses a number of the opponent's offensive modifiers, such as Attack, to calculate damage.

The user torments and enrages the target, making it incapable of using the same move twice in a row.

All details are accurate to Generation VII games. For details that have changed between generations, please see an individual move's page. Target data assumes user is in the lower left.

Trivia

Officially, this type's Brazilian Portuguese translation is "Noturno" (nocturnal), but at times it is named as "Sombrio" or "Trevas" (darkness) as well.

Because of Bite's change to Dark from the Normal type in Generation II, there has been at least one Dark-type move introduced in each generation. Despite this, there is not a Dark-type Pokémon from each generation; Dark is the only type not assigned to a Pokémon introduced in Generation I. This is the opposite situation to the other type introduced in Generation II, Steel.

There has yet to be a Pokémon Gym that specializes in the Dark type. Despite this, there have been three Elite Four members who specialize in Dark-type Pokémon.

Because Dark-type moves are only super effective against the Psychic and Ghost types, and there has not yet been a Pokémon with that type combination, Dark-type moves cannot currently deal 4× damage.

Generation V introduced the most Dark-type Pokémon of any Generation, with 16 and Generation II introduced the least Dark-type Pokémon, with six.

Despite Dark-type moves being exclusively special before the physical/special split, every Dark-type move introduced before the split was made a physical move.

Both types that Dark is weak to, Bug and Fighting, share a weakness to Flying types.

Generation IV introduced the most Dark-type moves of any Generation, with 11. Generation II (not counting Bite since it was introduced in Generation I) and V introduced the least Dark-type moves, with five.

Offensively, the only difference between Dark and Ghost is that Dark type moves are not very effective on Fighting and Ghost type moves don't affect Normal, while the other does normal damage to that type.

However, defensively the types are almost complete opposites, leaving the twoPokémon that are both types with no weakness.